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Another game beaten, another review. I finally completed Batman: Arkham Origins. I picked it up at launch and been slowly but surely played through the game. Like every year, October through to the end of November is the “blockbuster” window where a lot of video games that I want to get come out in this period. It doesn’t help that I picked up an Xbox One…

Please note this isn’t a review for you if you don’t appreciate the occasional f-bomb and you don’t want to read something that may spoil the game for you.

Overall I found that the game’s cinematics and graphics were breath taken for the most part on my PC. I also found the story tiresome. I realize the game focuses more on Arkham Asylum’s origins more than Batman’s. I don’t think there’s ever been a triple-A title video game that has gone through the whole story, which I found pretty disappointing in Arkham Origins.

When the game was first introduced to the world, I was really hoping that it would have gone through Batman’s origin story along with the darkness that Arkham Asylum beholds and the dark sinister force it possess. I didn’t want the Joker to return as the primary antagonist since I am a big fan of Mark Hamill’s portrayal. With that, I wasn’t too thrilled that they went with a different voice actor for Bruce Wayne/Batman and given Kevin Conroy the boot. Although, I wasn’t disappointed with Roger Craig Smith as the Cape Crusader’s voice. I wasn’t too fond of Troy Baker’s Joker.

While I didn’t want the Joker to be the primary antagonist in Arkham Origins even if it made sense due to the darkness that Arkham Asylum and the Joker share. But I was really hoping they would have used the note from Alan Moore’s Batman: The Killing Joke‘s back story for the Joker. I think it would have been a lot more funner game if you were up against The Joker as the Red Hood. You did see it in a high on drugs flashback but it wasn’t the same. I also wish that the Black Mask had a much larger role. I think his death was pretty premature, unnecessary and disappointing. Of course it wasn’t meant to be so they came up with this story.

I found the ending to be somewhat satisfactory but I wonder what the new developer Warner Bros. Games Montreal will do next. While I was disappointed that Rocksteady Studios isn’t behind the development of these games, I really really hope they are working on a Justice League game that centers on Superman and Wonder Woman. But we’ll have to wait and see.

Like it’s predecessors Arkham Origins has quite a lot of secondary objects like capture the Most Wanted fellows and collectathons. If you complete the game you unlock a bunch of different Batman suits. There’s multiplayer that I have no interest in playing nor the challenges. I may check out I Am the Night mode or whatever they call it but I’m in no rush.

The breakdown for Arkham Origins are:

Story: 3 out of 5
Graphics: 5 out of 5
Gameplay: 2.5 out of 5
Playability: 4 of 5
Overall: 3.5 / 5

August seems to be quite the month with traveling to the United States for the long weekend. I spent four days in Portland at the beginning of the month to cheer on my Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Tomorrow, I head off to Seattle for one of the biggest gamer conventions in the world, the legendary Penny Arcade Expo.

This will be my second PAX and I am pretty excited. I struck likely on Twitter last week. I wasn’t able to get tickets when they went on sale last March. They sold out within ten hours? Maybe less? Anyway a very astute friend of mine saw someone was selling and I was able to get them.

I haven’t gone to a PAX since 2011. I am not sure if it’ll be the same without my friend who lost his life earlier this year. I just want to go because he always spoke so fondly and positive about this event. I am glad that I got to spend time with him at my first PAX.

Entertainment is a major part of our postmodernist culture. It has become entwined with our daily lives from the television shows we regularly watch to the movies we see at the theatre. However our entertainment experience has changed in the last six years with the introduction of social media phenomena. Facebook and Twitter have given us a new medium to meet new people all over the world that love the same television program or new blockbuster film.

I have enjoyed my experience meeting new people who love the same shows and movies as I do. However there’s one thing that really peeves me and that’s people who tweet or update their Facebook Update with spoilers – running the show or movie that I haven’t seen lately. I have unfollowed people because of it. Regretfully, I have to admit that I have been responsible for spoiling stuff as well.

Not to mention due to other ways to watch such as streaming via Netflix or other such services

What is a spoiler?

When someone reveals an unknown aspect of something which you likely would have rather learned on your own.

I believe that this should be adopted by everyone:

Television series: They must be airing their most recent season. You have seventy-two hours (three days) to catch up with the rest of the world. If you aren’t going to watch the show within three days you most likely won’t watch it if you have more than

Film: Not a lot of people go see a movie at the midnight premiere or get advanced tickets. Nor do a lot of people go opening weekend. If they are a blockbuster film (such as Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness and (sadly) Fast & Furious, etc) the spoiler free zone is eight days. However if the movie is not a popular films such as recent release Scientologist propagandistic bullshit After Earth then it’s just three days like television shows.

Video games: Yes, you can spoil a video game storyline as well. If its a blockbuster the same goes with film, eight days. If it’s not going to sell a bajillion copies follow the television method of three days.

Books: You read books…? NERD!! Kidding… I read books too and there’s no shame in being a nerd! Books are a lot different than video games, movies and television shows. They can be very simple to overtly complex. It takes me quite a while to read a book. A month on average. I say the spoiler free zone in this case is three weeks tops. But if the book has been out for over thirteen years like the third book of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & FireA Storm of Swords (which the third season of Game of Thrones is currently based on) then you are out of luck.

Books in visual media: If your favourite book becomes a television series or a movie or maybe even a video game, please for the love of The Mother (teeheehee) follow what I’ve written above. I know I was snarky to a few people to their reactions to the Red Wedding event that partook in last Sunday’s episode of GoT but I am sure that I didn’t spoil it for anyone. If I did, I’m sorry. But please wait three days or the eight if it is an actual blockbusters because your fellow fans will love you for it.

This is the Anth Spoiler Scale Guide. If you have a better idea, post in the comments!